From passive to active: The constitutional logic transformation of state guarantee of the right to employment in the context of artificial intelligence

Resumen

The rapid development of artificial intelligence is profoundly reshaping the labor market, triggering a series of challenges such as the transformation of employment structure and changes in labor forms. The traditional constitutional logic of state guarantee for the right to employment, which is centered on "passive protection", can no longer adapt to these changes. This paper aims to explore the transformation path of the constitutional logic for the state to guarantee the right to employment in the context of artificial intelligence. It sorts out the evolution of provisions related to the protection of the right to employment in China's Constitution and relevant laws through normative analysis, investigates the practical experience of foreign countries in adjusting state obligations amid technological changes with comparative law research, and meanwhile analyzes typical cases involving artificial intelligence and the right to employment in China's judicial practice by means of case study. The study finds that there are three tensions in the current protection of the right to employment in China: the gap between the principled nature of the "state guarantee" clauses in the constitutional text and the specificity required by the technological era; the blurred boundary between the state's obligation of negative non-interference and positive action; and the poor adaptability of the traditional formal employment protection model to new employment forms such as the platform economy. Based on this, this paper proposes that the constitutional logic for the state to guarantee the right to employment should shift from "passive response" to "active construction". The specific paths include: at the normative level, clarifying the connotation of the state's positive obligations in guaranteeing the right to employment in the era of artificial intelligence, and incorporating skill training and protection of new employment forms into the scope of constitutional interpretation; at the institutional level, drawing on international experience to establish a full-chain protection mechanism of "prevention-adaptation-relief"; and at the practical level, balancing technological innovation and protection of employment rights and interests through judicial case guidance. This transformation not only provides theoretical support for improving China's constitutional protection system for the right to employment, but also offers an operable path reference for addressing the challenges in protecting social and economic rights under the technological revolution.